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Legend · 4 tellings · Pan-India

How Savitr came by his golden hands

Who is in it

  • Savitr loses his hands or arms
  • Rudra breaks his arms (Mahabharata)
  • Brihaspati asks Savitr to impel the portion (Shatapatha)
  • Bhaga loses his eyes
  • Pushan loses his teeth
  • Indra appeases the portion (Kaushitaki)

Texts: Rigveda, Shatapatha Brahmana, Mahabharata

The story, beat by beat

  1. The Rigveda calls Savitr golden-handed with no story attached.
  2. In the Kaushitaki Brahmana the gods keep the Brahman's portion for Savitr; it cleaves his two hands.
  3. The gods give him two golden hands; hence the epithet.
  4. In the Shatapatha Brahmana Savitr is unhurt: Brihaspati hastens to him and has the portion impelled so that it does no harm.
  5. In the Mahabharata Rudra breaks Savitr's arms with his bow and later gives them back.

sacrifice injury restoration

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Kaushitaki Brahmana 6.13

Pan-India All traditions

When the gods performed the sacrifice they kept the Brahman's portion for Savitr. It cleft both his hands, and they gave him two golden ones instead, which is why he is praised as golden-handed. The portion then destroyed Bhaga's eyes and Pushan's teeth, until Indra appeased it with the holy power.

Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920) § kaushitaki.6.13

Primary text (translation)

Shatapatha Brahmana 1.7.4

Pan-India All traditions

The piece torn from the sacrifice burns Bhaga's eyes and knocks out Pushan's teeth. Brihaspati, to whom it comes next, hurries to Savitr, the impeller of the gods, and asks him to impel it. So impelled it does no harm. The priest therefore takes the portion saying: at the impulse of the god Savitr, with the arms of the Ashvins, with the hands of Pushan.

What is different here:

Savitr is not injured; he is the one whose impulse makes the portion safe. No golden hands.

The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41) § 1.7.4.6-14

Primary text (translation)

Rigveda epithet only

Pan-India All traditions

The hymns call Savitr golden-handed, golden-armed and broad-handed and describe him stretching out his arms to rouse and to still the world. They tell no story of how the hands became golden.

What is different here:

Description without a cause.

Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 1.35.9-10; Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 6.71; Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 1.22.5

Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva 18

Pan-India All traditions

The gods assign Rudra no share. He comes with a bow, pierces the Sacrifice, which flees as a deer, and with the bow breaks Savitr's arms, plucks out Bhaga's eyes and Pushan's teeth. When the gods take refuge with him he gives Savitr back his arms.

What is different here:

Rudra in person does the injury; arms, not hands; they are restored, not replaced with gold.

The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § sauptika.18

Sources: Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920); The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41); Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer

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